Alternis Space Program

[Stamp20]

After a while of lurking on the forums and replying to the occasional topic, I decided to make a mission report.

This report will cover my journey in the Alternis Kerbol planet pack with Sigma Dimensions set to 2x scale.

Table of contents here:

Spoiler

Part 0: Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right? This post

Part 1: The (not so) Long Science Grind Here

Part 2: Laythe and some other stuff Here

Part 3: Testing and Testing Here

Part 4: The First Kerbal in Space Here

Part 5: A Complete Joke Here

Part 6: Milestones! Here

Part 7: The Science Grind is Back Here

Part 8: Two Landings Here

Part 9: Space Home Here

Part 10: Station Shenanigans Here

Part 11: Minmus Expedition 1 Here

Part 12: The SCANsat Army and Another Expedition Here

Part 13: Laythe and Another Space Home Here

Part 14: More Station Shenanigans Here

Part 15: It's Back! Here

Part 16: A Grain of Pollen and Station Shenanigans Round 3 Here

Part 17: Station Shenanigans Round 4 Here

Part 18: Minmus 4 Here

Part 19: It's Back Again Here

Part 20: Thinking with Portals Here

Part 21: Superkerbin Here

Mod list below:

Spoiler

• Some of the names may be inaccurate, I'm going off my GameData folder.
• Alternis Kerbol (obviously)
• B9PartSwitch
• BasicDeltaV
• BetterBurnTime
• BetterTimeWarp
• blackheart rocket stickers
• BonVoyage
• Chatterer
• Community Category Kit, Resource Pack, Tech Tree, Trait Icons, and Terrain Texture Pack
• Contract Configurator
  • GAP
  • Bases and Stations
  • Tourism
  • Exploration Plus
• CraftManager
• Cryo Engines
• DockRotate
• EasyVesselSwitch
• EVE
  • SciFi Visual Enhancements + custom modifications for Alternis
• ESLD Beacons
• EVA Follower
• Extraplanetary Launchpads
  • SimpleConstruction (removes the normal EL parts and instead implements the function in stock parts)
• Firespitter
• Field Training Facility / Lab
• ForScience
• Interstellar Fuel Switch
• KAS
• Kerbal Atomics
• Kerbal Engineer
• Kerbal Hacks KIS Props
• Kerbal Reusability Expansion
• KIS
• Kopernicus
• KourageousTourists
• Kronometer
• MechJeb
• MechJeb and Engineer for All
• Mining Expansion
• Mk2 and Mk3 Expansions
• Modular Launch Pads
• Near Future
  • Construction
  • Electrical
  • Solar
  • Spacecraft
  • Launch Vehicles
  • Exploration
• FinalFrontier
• Outer Planets Mod
• Kerbal Planetary Base Systems
• Portrait Stats
• Real Plume +Stock configs
• Restock
• Restock Plus
• SCANsat
• Science - Full reward!
• Science Relay
• Sigma Dimensions (2x scale)
• Soundtrack Editor
• SpaceY
• SpaceY Expanded
• Squad (very important mod)
• Squad Expansion (both DLCs)
• Stage Recovery
• Station Parts Expansion Redux
• Texture Replacer
  • Calm Nebula skybox
  • Gregorx's Multi Color Suit Pack 2.0
• Trajectories
• TooManyOrbits
• Kerbal Alarm Clock
• TweakScale
• Universal Storage 2
• UnKerballed Start
• Waypoint Manager

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Part 0: Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right?

Introducing the Dawn program, an unoriginal way of naming the dawn of a new space program.

Dawn 0, the first rocket:

Spoiler

A dirt cheap rocket was assembled in the VAB to gather some much needed science.

Dawn 0 sits on the launchpad.

It took off, and things quickly went sideways.

Literally sideways.

The rocket crashed, but not before transmitting the results of the thermometer experiments.

After that mission, the space program only had enough science for fuel tanks, but not engines.

Dawn 1 was assembled to get that science.

Spoiler

It's literally just Dawn 0 with extra boosters.

Afterwards, the engineers finally had enough science to build a real rocket.

Introducing Dawn 2. Very creative, as always.

Spoiler

Dawn 2 takes off.

The lack of early control options with UKS is really annoying.

As with the previous missions, nothing remained but some hastily transmitted science data.

Aviation parts and wings were unlocked, and the R&D department realized that it would be easier to use a plane to get some data.

These new parts were quickly glued together in the SPH to get some science, and Jeb was the victim loyal test subject that was put in the pilot's seat.

Spoiler

After several reverts, a working design successfully lifted off.

Jeb flew around the KSC and gathered some barometer, thermometer, and crew report data.

"It's a great view from up here!" -Jeb 2020

When it came to landing, the plane experienced some Rapid Unplanned Disassembly^TM

"Any landing you can walk away from is a successful one" - Also Jeb 2020

With more science, the space program was finally ready to reach the cosmos.

Spoiler

Dawn 3 lifts off, with the goal of reaching space.

The rocket experienced some stability issues, which ended in a revert every time.

\

First stage detached, still going strong.

The space craft barely lived up to its name and reached space, before falling back down.

SPACE!

Re-entry was uneventful, as nothing exploded.

Splash.

The next mission would finally go to orbit. However, a camera malfunction (me forgetting to take screenshots) led to only one picture of this mission, of the tiny satellite in orbit.

Dawn 4 is in orbit!

As is the pattern, there is a drought of science. Dawn 5 was launched to escape Kerbin's sphere of influence and transmit data from Jool. No photos of this mission exist, but the probe looked similar to Dawn 4. In addition, the VAB was upgraded before the launch and the pesky 30 part limit was FINALLY gone.

Dawn 6 was up next:

Spoiler

A contract appeared on Gene's desk asking to return from orbit. A rocket was thrown together quickly to accomplish this task.

It was launched successfully, and only on re-entry did they realize they forgot parachutes! One revert later, and the parachutes were attached.

Dawn 6 barely visible in orbit. This planet pack is very dark at night.

A successful landing!

That concludes the first part of this space program. Next up will be the start of the long science grind until better parts.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Stamp20
Table of contents and modlist

[Vanamonde]

Cute little plane.  

[Mikenike]

Nice! Keep going!

[Stamp20]

On 2/18/2020 at 2:41 PM, Vanamonde said:

Cute little plane.  

Thanks!

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While I'm here, might as well post an update.

Part 1: The (not so) Long Science Grind

The adventure resumes with another contract on Gene's desk, asking for a probe to enter Jool's atmosphere. As usual, the snack breaks were cancelled to assemble the probe. In addition, a new strategy was started by the admins to hopefully get more science by keeping the unpaid interns for longer than normal.

Spoiler

Good enough reward, let's do it.

Backlash? What's that?

The tech tree as of right now.

Jool Explorer 1, also known as the Jool Diver, was sent off to the launchpad.

Jool Diver as seen on the pad.

The launch went as normal, with a nice view of the (very long) sunset above the K2 mountains.

Kerbol can be seen below the faintly visible Jool.

Everything about the mission went nominal, with no problems to report.

Circularization burn.

Soon enough, the probe was leaving for Jool.

Bye, Kerbin!

The probe dived towards Jool, getting a good view of the clouds. It would quickly skim through the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, before heading back out to transmit the results.

Jool's clouds look amazing.

Skimming through the atmosphere.

The probe was out of comms connection, so the science results would have to wait.

An accidental Laythe encounter happened along the way, getting a few extra science points.

Laythe, Minmus and The Mun, right to left, are visible here.

Flying by Laythe.

After the Laythe encounter, the KSC staff realized the probe was on a collision course for Jool. Thankfully, the probe's planned maneuver at apoapsis to avoid the atmosphere fixed the issue.

After this successful mission, another contract appeared to orbit Laythe and return. It promised to pay a lot, so it was accepted immediately after seeing the amount of funds it gives.

Spoiler

Stonks.

The money from the contract's advance was used to upgrade Mission Control and the Tracking Station, enabling maneuver nodes.

The current KSC.

The tracking station upgrade also put the Jool Diver in comms range, so its science could be beamed back.

Before they explored Laythe, the unpaid R&D workers voiced their concerns that the space center didn't have the required parts for such a mission. Surprisingly, the administrators agreed, and, in their desperation for science, built a cheap rover because someone online said that the KSC buildings are worth a lot of science. Bob was placed on top of this basic science rover.

Spoiler

It's pretty dark right now, so Bob was told not to remove his helmet so he could use the lights.

Everything was smooth and uneventful until the rover tipped at the Administration Building. Normally, the mission would end right there, but Bob was determined to get more science.

R.I.P. Data Collector 2, 2020-2020

Bob's grandfather once told him "When in doubt, use your head." Normally, Bob would take that advice as thinking about the situation, but here, he took it quite literally.

"This is somehow working. Don't quote me on that." -Bob 2020

After pushing the rover to the edge of the Admin Building's plot of land, it went right side up and Bob continued science gathering.

\

"See? It worked." -Also Bob 2020

Nothing else notable happened, except Bob found out that part of the VAB seemed to be floating.

That light makes it look like there's a gap.

In the end, 197 SCIENCE WAS EARNED!!! Never underestimate KSC rovers.

With the much-needed science earned, mucher-needed technology was unlocked in R&D.

Science had been earned, but the KSC admins weren't satisfied. So they sent a probe to Bop, because why not. It could also serve as a relay, before they realized the Tracking Station was powerful enough to cover the Jool System.

Spoiler

Yet another launch.

This probe, with the unoriginal name of Bop Explorer 1, was sent off to land near one of Bop's poles to provide basic communication to the system.

Are you sure the rocket's still there?

It was sent off to Bop, which looked a lot like a "a rougher version of an ancient moon called Gilly." as put by a planetary researcher.

The smol space potato.

Getting to Bop was more like performing space rendezvous because of how tiny its SOI is. Still, the probe was running low on fuel.

Gently floating down.

The landing was performed effortlessly, marking the very first landing of the Space Program somewhere other than Kerbin.

"01001111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101101 01100001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110000 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100010 01100101 00101100 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101001 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110000 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01110101 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100100 00101110" - Bop Explorer 1 2020

The Space Program's craft designers continued work on Laythe Explorer 1, with the launch slated for the next update posted here.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Stamp20

[Stamp20]

What's this? Two updates in one day? Insanity!

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Part 2: Laythe and some other stuff

Laythe Explorer 1 has been completed and is ready to take off. Its goal is to orbit Laythe and return to Kerbin, while gathering a lot of science, of course.

Spoiler

LE1 ready for liftoff.

It was a dark day at the KSC, but Jool was anything but dark overhead.

Liftoff went as planned, but the TWR was barely enough on the first stages due to some last minute second stage boosters.

LE1's destination can be seen below the ever-present blue giant.

Second stage booster separation with a beautiful sunrise.

Orbit was completely normal. Once orbit was established, a maneuver was set to encounter Laythe, but not after swinging by the Mun.

LE1's predicted trajectory after executing the burn.

The burn happened in the dark, as is only right and proper in KSP.

Goodbye Kerbin!

For now, LE1 will be left to coast through space. To pass the time, Mortimer decided to pad his wallet with extra funds from GAP contracts. What follows is a brief montage of 5 contracts, described purely through captions.

Spoiler

Fly airplane to 2,500m: DONE

Build and fly a glider: DONE

Brief interruption for SPH, Runway, and Astronaut Complex upgrades

Moar upgrades!

"this is fine" -Jeb 2020

Jump from an airplane: DONE

Fly airplane to 5000m: DONE

Reach airspeed of 100m/s: DONE

Extra money stored away for the LE1 return party, a contract was accepted for a satellite in polar Bop orbit, and to scan Bop. At this point, assembling rockets was so fast that the builders got to keep their snack break this time.

Spoiler

A unique SRB setup is used to get this rocket off the ground.

The Bop SCANsat 1 took off from the launchpad during a bright Kerbin day, with Jool STILL in the sky. Does it ever go away? And does the view ever get boring?

Burn going nominal, as all things should be.

When the maneuver was being plotted, flight planners realized the orbit Kerbal Motion wanted the sat in was inside of Bop's terrain!

Bruh.

After some negotiations, Kerbal Motion agreed to pay the KSC for the satellite when they put it in the orbit the KSC wanted, which was much higher.

Spoiler

Spoiler alert: I actually used the debug menu to complete the contract.

Approaching the potato.

A beautiful view of almost all of Jool's moons. Rumor has it  this is Stamp Kerman's new desktop background.

After a few orbits of scanning, the Tracking Station workers realized they couldn't access Bop's scan data for whatever reason. All they could click was Jool and Laythe. Weird.

With another mission complete, it was time to finish Laythe Explorer 1's mission.

Spoiler

Flying by the Mun. It's a lot yellower than I remember.

LE1 flew by the Mun, then plotted a node to bring it into a low Laythe orbit.

This is why I love Alternis Kerbol. The views never get old. Never.

The probe went to Laythe, did a few orbits, and left again. What's the point of sticking around without biome-specific experiments to run?

Laythe's weather seems to be very dangerous, with several hurricanes and volcanoes spotted.

The probe returned to Kerbin uneventfully, where it calmly re-entered the atmosphere at mach 12.

Is someone cooking something, or was that the antenna frying?

A safe landing to end this mission.

More science than the rover!

Afterwards, several contracts were delivered to Gene's desk. One asked to do what LE1 did, but with the Mun. There were also four contracts to collect science from Laythe and the Mun. They're gonna need an army of probes to complete all of the contracts that keep flooding in.

Additionally, command pod technology were researched, so testing will begin for manned missions to space.

[The Dressian Exploder]

On 2/19/2020 at 12:12 AM, Stamp20 said:

After some negotiations, Kerbal Motion agreed to pay the KSC for the satellite when they put it in the orbit the KSC wanted, which was much higher.

[GEPEG_Unconscious]

On 2/18/2020 at 4:12 PM, Stamp20 said:

LE1 ready for liftoff.

I really like what Sci-Fi VE has done to the system. I either loved or hated the looks of the planets in AKR. AKR Jool was one of the ones i was not a fan of, but the Sci-Fi Enhancements make it much better. Can't wait to see what the other planets look like too.

[Stamp20]

4 hours ago, GEPEG_Unconscious said:

I really like what Sci-Fi VE has done to the system. I either loved or hated the looks of the planets in AKR. AKR Jool was one of the ones i was not a fan of, but the Sci-Fi Enhancements make it much better. Can't wait to see what the other planets look like too.

Might as well make some progress towards seeing the other planets now.

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Part 3: Testing and Testing

Today's update will be short, since I'm away right now and writing this on mobile.

Guess what? Kerbin World-Firsts wants another orbit, this time at the Mun. The pay isn't that good, but it's something.

Spoiler

Contracts, contracts, contracts.

Spare Laythe Explorer 1 parts were assembled and put on a new S6 (6 Swivel engines) rocket and tested to the Mun.

Liftoff.

Goodbye first stage.

The first stage was recovered.

Circularizing.

Now leaving Kerbin.

Approaching.

In

And out.

It'll take a while for Mun Explorer 1 to return to Kerbin, so for now, the space center turned its attention to starting a manned space program.

Because here, at the Alternis Space Program, we care about our kerbals unlike most space agencies, so we put our manned spacecraft through some tests to ensure kerbal safety.

First up is the Pad Abort Test.

Spoiler

The Pad Abort Test demonstrates that the escape system works.

The pod sitting on the launchpad. The name of the manned space program has not been decided, but we're open for suggestions.

Nyoom.

The test was successful, so a service module was created for the next tests.

Next up was the In Flight Abort and the Orbital Flight Test. To save costs, both will be done on the same mission. First, the in flight abort, a revert, then orbit.

Spoiler

S6 stands on the launchpad.

Liftoff.

ABORT!!!

One revert to launch later and we're going to orbit.

Everything is working well.

A spicy reentry.

Everything went well, so the first kerbal will go to space soon!

[Stamp20]

Part 4: The First Kerbal in Space

Soon is now now.

Valentina Kerman has been selected as the first kerbal to go to space, and after the selection, no time was wasted in preparing the launch. Except, however, the time to launch a satellite for Maxo Construction Toys.

Spoiler

The space program's trusty S6 rocket was used. The third stage turned out to be complete overkill, and that the mission could be completed even with half a second stage and no third stage.

First stage separation and fairing deploy.

Boosting orbit. The second stage was detached with half of its fuel left after achieving orbit.

Deployed. Mortimer wants all comm sats to be for contracts, to save money.

After that brief intermission, we can get on with the main mission. The program's name has been decided as Frontier.

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/PLRrL9OsAF8

The pod sits, waiting.

Getting in. Val is doubting this will work.

Liftoff!

"I'm not dead yet?!" -Val 2020

Some errors were discovered along the way. Whenever the magic camera was pointed towards Jool, the flight log got spammed with errors, making the framerate near unplayable with the window open.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Second stage separation. It was also overkill, so KSC engineers are investigating a smaller second stage for LKO missions.

Val stayed in orbit for several hours, proving that it is possible for kerbals to survive and work in space. She also packed a camera, and got some pictures.

"There's Kerbin. Looks great from up here."

"I can see the second stage and Laythe. If I wasn't an astronaut, I'd pay some serious money for this view."

All missions have to end, though. After spending a few hours in space, Valentina deorbited.

"There's a lot of fire outside, and the landing prediction is right in the mountains."

Just like the simulations predicted, she was heading towards some mountains.

"At least the parachutes work."

The command pod started sliding down after landing.

This reminds me of a Danny2462 video.

After a few minutes of tumbling, the pod finally stopped.

A rescue helicopter was sent out, the lifeline was prepared, the stretcher was lowered, and the rescue was made, thanks to the new emergency collection from Kerbal Space Program.

 

Upon return, Valentina received some ribbons, the most notable one being the First Kerbal in Space ribbon.

This historic mission will pave the way for several more manned missions, in addition to unmanned probes.

[KerballingSmasher]

Looks good! Keep it up!

[Stamp20]

Part 5: A Complete Joke

*inhales*

Spoiler

A KERBAL HAS BEEN STRANDED IN SPACE IN KSP!

START THE NEW RESCUE ROCKET.

BUILD THE ROCKET, AND OFF TO THE RESCUE.

PREPARE THE RENDEZVOUS

GO ON EVA

AND MAKE THE RESCUE.

THE NEW EMERGENCY COLLECTION FROM KERBAL SPACE PROGRAM.

Oh and Mun Explorer 1 returned too.

Spoiler

 

[The Minmus Derp]

This is interesting! I like that pack.

[Stamp20]

Part 6: Milestones!

Two big milestones for the space program today, landing on Bop and the first tourist in orbit.

Spoiler

First up was the Bop landing.

Jeb was assigned to this mission since Val flew the previous one.

Do I need to paste the elevator music link again?

The rocket was nearly identical to the one carrying Val, except its service module was redesigned to be a lander.

Not much to say. Just another launch.

A maneuver was plotted and burned to go to Bop. Halfway through the coast, the ship and Kerbin experienced a Jool eclipse, however it didn't look like the ship was eclipsed.

Eclipse???

Once reaching Bop, Jeb was told to wait until Kerbin and Bop were out of Jool's shadow before landing.

After waiting a few hours, Jeb quickly fired the engine to land.

"Is this even an accomplishment? This is just rendezvous in the equivalent of keostationary with extra steps." -Jeb

When going down to land, Jeb saw a strange green statue on the surface.

"KSC, I'm picking up something strange on the radar." -Jeb

Jeb successfully landed and got a closer look at the anomaly.

"It looks like a green monolith. I'm going to need to get a closer look." -Jeb

"Werhner just came crashing through the door saying he found out how to make robotic hinges... coincidence?" -Gene

Jeb opened the hatch and stepped outside, marking the first time a Kerbal has ever set foot on an alien world.

"That's one big fall for a kerbal, one small leap for kerbalkind. This isn't even that hard, why are we making a big deal out of this? -Jeb

After stepping out, Jeb investigated the monolith.

"Squad? What's that?" -Jeb

He was then instructed to plant a flag on the nearby hill.

"If I could disconnect this radio and camera, I'd jump down this mountain! Looks like it would be a fun slide." -Jeb

"You are NOT JUMPING OFF THAT MOUNTAIN, NO MATTER HOW LOW THE GRAVITY IS. DO YOU HEAR ME JEBEDIAH KERMAN?!" -Gene

Jeb planted the flag and resisted the urge to facetumble down the mountain.

"I could get into orbit with my jetpack alone." Here, on J1 R4 6:18, Jebediah Kerman landed on the surface of Bop in the Frontier 3 spacecraft.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeee" -Jeb

Jeb couldn't stay forever, though. He climbed back into the lander and took off to return to Kerbin.

Fuel was pretty tight for the return.

In the latter part of the burn and after completion, the craft flew away from Bop so fast it looked like timewarp.

Jeb safely returned to Kerbin, where he got several ribbons for landing on and returning from Bop.

Afterwards, two-seater pod technology was researched, so the space program thought about what they could do with multiple kerbals in orbit.

One of the mission planners remembered that during part 4, Val said:

Quote

"If I wasn't an astronaut, I'd pay some serious money for this view."

Gene made an announcement that the space program would allow civilians to go to space with Jeb or Val, but for a price.

Many people doubted it and didn't sign up, until billionaire Tito Kerman stepped up and paid to go in one of the new pods and spend a few hours in orbit.

Soon enough, Frontier 4 was rolled out to the launchpad.

Spoiler

Even though he was brave enough to pay the money, Tito was still very nervous. Valentina, however, was not.

Getting into the pod. The new boarding bridge is much nicer than the one from Frontier 1 and 2.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" -Tito

Despite Tito's nervousness and screaming, they safely made it into orbit, where he got to experience microgravity.

Once his few hours were up, Val fired the engine to deorbit and the pod landed in one piece.

Tito's flight showed that tourism was safe, so more tourists slowly started to apply for tourism.

Also, the Woomerang Launch Site was lined up with the orbit of a contract orbit for a polar satellite, so that was launched too.

Spoiler

In stock, Woomerang is between some mountains, while here, it's on a flat peninsula.

Deployed.

 

[Stamp20]

Part 7: The Science Grind is Back

This updates starts out with probes being built to explore the other moons, starting with Minmus.

Spoiler

Launch.

Ejection burn.

The Minmus Explorer 1 probe contains two parts: the Reentry Module and the Satellite Module.

After reaching Minmus orbit, the Satellite Module will be detached and will begin SCANsat mapping of the moon, while the Reentry module returns to Kerbin.

Leaving Kerbin.

While Minmus Explorer 1 is drifting through space, Mun Explorer 2, a rover, was launched.

Spoiler

Liftoff. The S6 lifter is really underpowered for the space program's needs, so a new rocket will be needed soon.

ME2 will also take a while to reach the Mun.

It'll take a while for the two probes to arrive, so two rescue contracts were accepted to pass the time.

Spoiler

A KERBAL HAS BE- No. We are not doing that joke again.

Liftoff.

Burning to raise orbit.

The two stranded kerbals, Admin and Gusbree, are only a somewhat short distance away from each other. To save time and fuel, Gusbree, the kerbal in front, will be rescued first, before the pod's apoapsis is raised to intercept Admin on the next orbit.

Gusbree on EVA. He is a pilot.

The maneuver to intercept Admin. Admin turned out to be an engineer, not an administrator.

The two kerbals landed safely on Kerbin and are now part of the growing astronaut corps.

Mun Explorer 2's node was performed, followed by Minmus Explorer 1 reaching its target.

Spoiler

Preparing to burn.

Approaching Minmus.

It's very red, unlike the Minmus most people know. It's also a lot smaller, even on 2x scale.

The surface is a duller red than the glow led the scientists to believe.

Satellite has been separated and is now scanning.

The Reentry module later returned to Kerbin with plenty of science.

Finally, Mun Explorer 2 landed.

Capturing at the Mun.

Deorbit.

Going down to land.

Landed

Landed???

When the camera was zoomed in the rover, the terrain disappeared. The rover also poofed after staying down there for too long. Thankfully, a quicksave was made on landing, and the rover could escape the crater before exploding.

My guess is that with SD, the game thought the bottom of the crater was below sea level and that the rover shouldn't be there.

Ready to explore.

Next up, even more probes will be launched, because we need more science.

[Stamp20]

Part 8: Two Landings

It's another rote at the KSC, and this update starts with a launch because what else is there?

The launch in question is Laythe Explorer 2, designed to fly around Laythe and gather valuable science.

Spoiler

Liftoff as normal. Some weird rocket solutions were being tried out because of the S6 being outdated and too weak.

Fairing separation reveals the plane.

Heading to orbit.

Burning.

Hello Purple Kerbin Laythe!

The plane barely survived re-entry. Several quickloads were required before it got through without the intakes exploding.

After the eventful re-entry, the plane performed beautifully.

Flying across Laythe. It's a lot purpler and more ocean-y than Kerbin.

Landing was easy, as the plane had been tested on Kerbin beforehand.

Transmitting science.

LE1 also worked as a makeshift boat to gather some splashed science.

Laythe Explorer 1 will continue to fly around Laythe, gathering valuable data about Kerbin's most similar neighbor. Discoveries include a close observation of one of Laythe's many volcanoes, and its southern ice cap.

 

Unrelated but Contract Sat 1's orbit was adjusted for a contract.

I don't know why Kerbodyne would want a satellite made by Maxo Construction Toys to be moved.

Next up is... wait, why did you accept that contract?

Spoiler

The only reason this was accepted is because they didn't read it.

The space program was stuck with what seemed to be an impossible mission: Land a Kerbal on the Mun and return alive.

Thankfully, if there's one thing KSP is known for, it's making the most absurd missions work.

In the end, after several attempts, a KMOR (Kerbin Mun Orbit Rendezvous) plan was chosen. It will go as follows:

• Launch the lander.
• Launch the crew pod and transfer stage.
• Lander docks to command pod and combined craft goes to Mun.
• Lander lands on surface.
• Kerbals do science and stuff.
• Lander goes into Mun orbit and docks to command pod.
• Command pod returns to Kerbin with crew.

First, the lander, a two stage rocket capable of landing and returning, was placed into LKO.

The lander is parked over Kerbin, awaiting its crew.

Next, the crew, Gusbree and Bob Kerman, were launched in another crazy rocket.

Liftoff. Bob is very nervous about if this will work.

SRBs can be faintly seen falling away.

Stage separation.

Burning for orbit.

Correction node for rendezvous.

The pod met up with the lander, and Gus went on EVA to dock, as the lander only had a detachable probe core for launch, which was already detached to open the docking port.

Gus entering the lander.

Approaching to dock.

The lander tried to dock to the command pod, but the port shield was in the way. An Emergency Docking Adapter(TM) was quickly attached to fix the problem

Docked.

The combined spacecraft then left for the Mun.

"Why do I have a feeling I won't be seeing Kerbin for a long time?" -Bob

The craft arrived at the Mun and the crew transferred into the lander can to land.

"I sure hope I get to see the command module again..." -Bob

"Relax, it'll be fine. This is only my first flight in the space program!" -Gusbree

"NOT HELPING!" -Bob

The lander descended towards the Trailing Crater, which happened to be where Mun Explorer 2 is.

"I think I can see Mun Explorer 2 on the radar." -Gusbree

"We have more important problems, like the fact that the landing predictions say that we won';t be able to slow down in time" -Bob

Bob's observation was right, but Gus managed to prevent the first manned Mun landing from ending in a pile of scrap metal.

"We made it... WE MADE IT!" -Bob

"I told you!" -Gusbree

Shortly after landing, Gusbree stepped out and became the first Kerbal to step foot on the Mun, followed shortly by Bob. They were too far away from Mun Explorer 2 to visit, though.

The plaque placed next to the flag. In the history books (stock KSP), landing on the Mun is trivial. Here, it's much more difficult.

The crew poses for a brief "looking into the distance" picture.

Bob noticed that when standing still, he started slowly sliding on the ground.

Spoiler

There wasn't much to do, so they got going once the CM was in position.

The bottom stage was used for a quick boost, in a smart move by Gus.

In Munar orbit, waiting to burn to the CM.

"At least the hard part is over." -Bob

"You mean fun?" -Gusbree

Bob went on EVA to get some science points, and discovered that the antenna doesn't have collision.

The MechJeb autopilot set a node to return to Kerbin, with one problem.

The maneuver's time was one rote away, and there wasn't any way to go faster without a ludicrous amount of DeltaV, which the craft didn't have. As a result, the crew will have to wait until they return.

Next time, Pol Explorer 1 and several other satellites will be launched.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Stamp20

[The Minmus Derp]

Wow, that was... Eventful. I wonder when you're going to the other moons...
I think Pol is missing out.

[Stamp20]

3 hours ago, The Minmus Derp said:

Wow, that was... Eventful. I wonder when you're going to the other moons...
I think Pol is missing out.

Next update will be a Pol mission! The only problem with Pol is the transfer windows take a long time, and it's inclined.

[Stamp20]

Part 9: Space Home

This update will be longer than normal, as I've been falling behind.

On 3/5/2020 at 10:47 AM, The Minmus Derp said:

Wow, that was... Eventful. I wonder when you're going to the other moons...
I think Pol is missing out.

You wish has been granted. Pol Explorer 1 is launching right now.

Spoiler

Yet another launch. At this point, the KSC engineers were experimenting with different lifter designs.

sample text

The probe design is very similar to Laythe Explorer... 1 was it?

The transfer window is about 1 Rote away, so we'll get back to this later.

While MEx1 and PE1 are waiting for nodes, the contract satellite industry is booming.

Spoiler

ContractSat 3, destination: high, somewhat inclined Kerbin orbit.

Inclination adjustment.

Parked in orbit.

ContractSat 4, destination: Laythe.

The space program finally settled on the R8, with 8 Reliants and 3 Swivels.

Similar to its predecessor, the S6, the first stage is recoverable. The difference here is the R8 does a powered landing.

Heading off to Laythe.

All the space program can do now is wait. To distract everyone from the extreme boredom, Bop Expedition 1 was launched. The plan is that Bop landings become a normal way to train crew members. Bill and Natabin Kerman are on this mission.

Spoiler

A similar craft to Mun Expedition 1, minus the lander.

Correction burn. I can't get over how amazing Kerbin and Jool look with visual mods.

Landing on the potato.

Bop is so small, the flag from Jeb's landing (bottom left) and Bop SCANsat 1 (top right) are both on the radar!

Bill takes a very graceful fall to the surface.

Halfway through the flag planting, something changed.

The message at the bottom of the flag.

"Uhh... KSC... who turned off the lights?" -Natabin

It turns out, that while they were planting the flag, Bop moved behind Kerbin, leaving the two kerbals in the darkness. They were instructed to stay inside the command pod until Bop moved out of the shadow.

"Are you sure Bop's still out there, or if it's void?" -Bill

Once daylight returned, the crew got to work on the mission's other goal: set up deployed science.

"How does this control panel work? Forget it. *POW!* That worked?* -Natabin

The two kerbals set up a "science camp" on the surface.

Bop Science Camp, the ultimate summer camp.

The two then blasted off and returned to Kerbin.

All in all, the mission was a success, and killed enough time for CS4 to reach Laythe.

Spoiler

Capture burn.

Welcome to Laythe orbit.

It paid quite a lot.

Another contract slip-up, this time a contract for science data from the surface was accepted. Unlike last time, this time Gene thought they already had a surface probe. As a result, they improvised.

Spoiler

Minmus SCANsat Lander 1 as seen in orbit.

The former scansat had over 2,000m/s of DeltaV, more than enough to land on a moon very similar to Bop.

Landed.

There was still an overabundance of fuel left, so biome hopping will be possible in the future.

There was now enough science to unlock the Mobile Processing lab, among a lot of other parts. With this, a space station started construction.

Spoiler

KSS Risk. The engineers were taking a big RISK trying long-term space habitation, which had never been done before, besides MEx1. Excuse me for that terrible pun.

Like all other launches, it started atop a pillar of fire.

Final orbit adjustment.

Next time, MEx1 and PE1 will execute their maneuvers, and the first crew will be launched to Risk.

[Stamp20]

Part 10: Station Shenanigans

First, what's a station without a crew? To solve this? the STV(Station Transport Vehicle) was created. Valentina and Herzon Kerman were selected to crew the station.

Spoiler

Like everything I do, it starts with a launch. This craft is small enough to be within the range of the S6 lifter.

Rendezvous in the dark, as is only right and proper.

Docked! Valentina and Herzon have arrived at their new home.

Next up is- *RING RING RING* MEx1's alarm is going off!

Spoiler

"Finally, we're leaving. There's only so long I can spend inside a cramped pod." -Bob

MEx1 drifted home and is going to re- *RING RING RING*

Pol Explorer 1 wants attention, too.

"01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100010 01111001 01100101 00100000 01001011 01100101 01110010 01100010 01101001 01101110" -Pol Explorer 1

Mun Expedition 1 finally got to return.

The mission earned a lot of science, allowing a lot of research to be done.

That rude interruption did get one good thing - better command pods. The STV instantly became obsolete and was replaced by the STVB(B representing the second generation).

Spoiler

This first test flight carried a few tourists to the space station. The crew was Jebediah, new recruit Haruki, and two tourists.

STVB taking off.

The pod features a moving hatch on the docking port.

Docked! A materials bay was also included because R&D found a way to get more science out of it, but they needed to test it at the station. It cost some funds, but was worth a lot of science.

Haruki stayed behind on the station to do research in the MPL. Because the tourists only paid for their 4 hours on the station, Jeb left shortly after.

"Buuut I want to stay on the station!!!" -Tourist 1

"Stop acting like babies! You paid for 4 hours, you get 4 hours!" -Jeb

The station wasn't complete in one launch, though. An airlock and docking node were launched shortly after, in the spirit of doing things really quickly at the ASC.

Spoiler

It was a very cloudy day at the launch site, but since when did some particles stop PROGRESS?

*Side note: I've been messing with the EVE configs because of a bug where the clouds/glows appear a bit too high every time I start the game, so screenshots might be inconsistent. If anyone knows why this is happening, please tell me.

Arriving at the station. The airlock will dock to the top port, and the docking node on the back of the MPL.

The station assembled. The transfer stage can be seen drifting off in the distance.

To test the airlock, Herzon went on an inspection EVA.

He also sent off the STV to make room at the station. It's fine because if an evacuation was needed, one Kerbal would have to be left behind so either way there's no benefit of keeping it.

Selfie with the ASC and Target Islands.

Another Kerbal has been stranded in space!

Spoiler

The STVB was upgraded with a proper launch escape system, at the cost of the fancy docking hatch.

The launch was timed so that there was a rendezvous before even reaching orbit.

Traory Kerman, a pilot, was rescued from an onion-shaped pod.

She was saved, but there were still some tourists that wanted to see the station.

Heading to the station.

Docked.

Once the tourists completed their visit, the pod returned to Kerbin.

Duna Ore, the primary contractor for Risk, wanted the station's crew rotated, even though they had spent barely any time there.

Spoiler

Another STVB launch, with Traory, Admin, Bob, and Cercal Kerman on board.

Bop and Pol are barely visible off in the distance.

The current and new crews swapped places.

Before the STVB leaves, the station's orbit was raised from 250km to 300km.

The pod landed very close to the ASC.

A craft filled with several parts for the station, including new docking ports to replace the Jr. size ports, was launched.

Spoiler

Resupply pod launch.

Already at the station.

Admin Kerman went on EVA from the airlock to install the new parts.

Spoiler

First, he installed a science platform where experiments can be mounted. For now, it has a multispectral scanner.

Next, Admin replaced the two Jr. sized ports with full size docking ports. The Jr's were put back in the resupply pod to burn up.

A solar panel stopped working (at least, that's what the contract said), so Admin went over to fix it.

"I... don't see a problem here." -Admin

Before heading back in, Admin took the obligatory selfie.

Lastly, the resupply pod was deorbited. Mission Control kept tracking it to determine if it would survive reentry. It did, so future iterations will include parachutes for recovery.

Next up, Minmus Expedition 1 will be launched to get a lot of science from the tiny red rock orbiting near Jool.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Stamp20
speling mistakes

[Stamp20]

Part 11: Minmus Expedition 1

No, I haven't abandoned this mission report just yet.

This mission will be very similar to Mun Expedition 1, but better. Similar to it, the lander was launched separately.

Spoiler

The launch took place right as Kerbin was going into an eclipse, creating this.

Once the lander was in orbit, the crew launched. Valentina and Haruki, as well as two tourists, were in the rocket.

Spoiler

Weird shadow stuff.

Rendezvous in the dark, as is only right and proper.

Docked. The Cheetah stage below the command module's fuel was transferred into the booster below the lander.

Leaving Kerbin with the lander's booster stage.

Leaving Kerbin, again.

The combined craft drifted off to- RING RING RING!

Spoiler

Pol Explorer 1 wants attention.

Back to MiEx1

Spoiler

Haruki did an EVA from the lander for a World's First contract, as well as performing the first crew transfer over Jool.

Giant planet, tiny craft.

Welcome to Minmus! Population: You and one probe.

Spoiler

The capture burn wasn't about "does it have enough DeltaV" (well, it was a worry), or was "can we do it before we leave Minmus again".

Going down to land.

"A tiny lander, a small moon, and a giant planet, looming over the horizon." -Valentina

Once landed, they assembled deployed science.

"Is it this button to turn on the science center? Yes it is."

"How does this work? Whatever, this should work." *BANG* "Trust me, I'm a scientist!"

"It always ends up working."

"NEVER QUESTION THE ELEVATED ONE"

The lander had a ton of fuel left, so they decided to biome hop before returning to the tourists.

Spoiler

"Not LITERALLY hopping, Val. You're gonna break the solar panel!" -Gene

"Now look what you did. The lander's missing a solar panel!" -Gene

Val went back to using the engine after that.

"Are you sure I can't get out and go sliding down? I heard the 3000-meter facetumble is popular again." -Val

"It's like dealing with two little kids sometimes." -Gene

"Why is there a green rock on a red moon? Was Minmus once green or something?"

"It's very flat, might be nice for base building, or sli-" -Val

"For the last time, Minmus is NOT a playground." -Gene

"Who turned off the lights?"

"Every biome has been scienced. You can return to orbit." -Gene

The lander's fuel was used to power the CSM through the ejection burn, to make the most if its reserves.

Most of the burn was done after leaving Minmus.

The entire mission was completed in just under one Rote.

"How much science did we get- WHAT. 6000!" -Werhner

A lot of new tech was unlocked as a result of the mission.

 

[LittleBitMore]

I'm really liking this mission report!

[Stamp20]

1 hour ago, LittleBitMore said:

I'm really liking this mission report!

Thanks! I'll keep doing more.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 12: The SCANsat Army and Another Expedition

The previous Minmus mission unlocked a lot of tech, including all of the SCANsat parts. The SCANsat agency saw an opportunity to scan some moons. All Mortimer saw was money.

Spoiler

Laythe, Mun, and Minmus are all getting their own sats.

Nobody kept track of what launch was what, they're all basically the same. I think it was Laythe > Minmus > Mun

The three launches weren't back-to-back.

The third (Mun?) launch was right at the end of a Jool eclipse.

If you ignore the spaghetti network of orbits and comm lines, Kerbin is partially still in Jool's shadow.

A fourth one also went to Bop. Do I really need pictures of the launch?

It came pretty close to the first sat, but that's just how Bop is.

LSS1 has arrived.

So has MiSS2

Mun SCANsat 1 is yet to arrive.

While the above SCANsat launches were happening, the ASC's eyes were turned towards Laythe. Specifically, landing there and returning.

Spoiler

The researchers saw Laythe's oxygen atmosphere, and figured it would be good for a plane. Laythe Explorer 2(?) demonstrated this, so a spaceplane was their first idea.

A two-stage spaceplane, because I can't make SSTOs.

The second stage.

Testing it.

Jeb tried it out. It flew, but not very well. A redesign would be too costly, so a different approach was taken.

Next, an asparagus-staged vertical lander was tried. It went a lot better.

"It's better than the plane, that's for sure. A lot more powerful." -Jeb

The prototype made it to Kerbin orbit, so it was refined for Laythe.

The actual mission itself was cleared for launch. Jebediah and new scientist Jeswell are on the mission.

Spoiler

Launch of the biggest rocket to date.

Like previous missions, the lander is launched and left in orbit for the crew.

For reference of time, Minmus SCANsat 1 was at its correction node.

Crew launching. No tourists this time.

"Will this explode?" -Jeswell

"Of course not!" -Jeb

"It'll explode if you don't stop looking at Kerbagram while trying to fly, Jeb!" -Gene

Another rendezvous in the dark. Is this really right and proper?

Say it with me, "Goodbye Kerbin."

Back to drifting through space.

Launching contract sats, a great way to pass time.

Spoiler

A "stage-and-a-half" design was tried to get the rocket off the ground, In hindsight, it would've been better to just strap on some boosters.

Next time, LEx1 will land, and another ContractSat will launch.

Some transfer windows to Tylo and Eve were coming up in a few Rotes, so ASC management was looking at potential interplanetary explorers in the future.

[LittleBitMore]

Nice update! I have a question, though: who started the "as is right and proper" thing for events at night? I've seen multiple people do it.

[Stamp20]

Just now, LittleBitMore said:

Nice update! I have a question, though: who started the "as is right and proper" thing for events at night? I've seen multiple people do it.

I think Forgotten Space Program started it.

[KerballingSmasher]

1 hour ago, Stamp20 said:

I think Forgotten Space Program started it.

I believe so...